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A quarter of Covid-19 patients who have died in hospitals in England had diabetes, according to figures released by NHS England.

Data published for the first time breaks down deaths from coronavirus by pre-existing conditions.

Of the 22,332 patients who died since 31 March, when pre-existing conditions began to be reported, 5,873 (26%) had diabetes, while 4,048 (18%) had dementia. Some 3,254 (15%) were reported to have chronic pulmonary disease, while 1,549 patients had asthma.

NHS England said the accuracy of the data was reliant on the availability and transfer of information by healthcare providers, and patients may have had more than one pre-existing condition.

Follow up statement from Bridget Turner, director of policy at Diabetes UK:

We [...] need urgent action from government to understand the detail behind this figure, including diabetes type, age, ethnicity, medical history and comorbidities of those who have sadly died, so that we can know how to keep all people with diabetes safe.

Government must ensure urgently that employers take all the necessary measures to keep employees with diabetes safe, if they are expected to attend work outside the home as restrictions are eased. This includes ensuring the guidance for employers is clear, consistent, and focused on the safety of employees above all else.

We still urgently need to understand through research why people with diabetes are affected in such numbers. But until we know more, people living with diabetes should be supported to manage their condition, attend appointments as normal either online or in person at Covid-19 protected sites and, most importantly, should continue to have access to their local clinical team if they have concerns.

Well-Known Member

The trouble is, we can’t tell much from a raw statistic. As @trophywench has just said on another thread, we don’t know if they were all over 80 with other co-morbidities. I would expect a lot of the 'deaths with diabetes' to overlap with the 'deaths because of obesity', or 'deaths because of heart conditions' etc etc. And we don’t know how well the diabetes was controlled in the people who died.
We need to know a lot more about the breakdown.

Active Member

The trouble is, we can’t tell much from a raw statistic. As @trophywench has just said on another thread, we don’t know if they were all over 80 with other co-morbidities. I would expect a lot of the 'deaths with diabetes' to overlap with the 'deaths because of obesity', or 'deaths because of heart conditions' etc etc. And we don’t know how well the diabetes was controlled in the people who died.
We need to know a lot more about the breakdown.

Well-Known Member

The trouble is, we can’t tell much from a raw statistic. As @trophywench has just said on another thread, we don’t know if they were all over 80 with other co-morbidities. I would expect a lot of the 'deaths with diabetes' to overlap with the 'deaths because of obesity', or 'deaths because of heart conditions' etc etc. And we don’t know how well the diabetes was controlled in the people who died.
We need to know a lot more about the breakdown.

Well as a fat diabetic I'm not taking any chances and I'm staying in my house and keeping away from people and if I have to leave my house for any reason I'm wearing two masks and a face shield. My acetate sheets arrived three days ago and I'm waiting until I am 100% sure they are safe before making a home made shield.

Here's a video showing the most simple way to make a face shield - particularly suitable for spectacles wearers.

Type 2 Diagnosed in January 2019 with HbA1c of 67
Prescribed Metformin 500mg once a day and took it for 3 months.
Also prescribed Beta Blockers - 40mg once a day and 10mg as required
Immediately went on to very low carb high fat diet i.e. keto
2nd HbA1c - 55 - came off Metformin as I wasn't eating enough carbs to justify it.
3rd HbA1c - 42 - came off Beta Blockers - gradually reducing dose
4th HbA1c - 42 and blood pressure high end of normal.

Have been managing just by eating low carb/keto without any meds since November 2019 and had my 4th HbA1c after Christmas so I am quite pleased with how things are going

My Experience of Tackling Diabetes - this is my page on Facebook with my cookery adventures and has recipes and tips and wrinkles about low carb eating and keto - I have used dietary changes to keep my blood sugar levels under excellent control for over a year and been able to come off meds completely.

My Facebook Page with my poetry - poetry but mostly not the flowery obscure stuff. People have been known to compare my stuff with Pam Ayres and I have been known to mutter darkly under my breath when they did so

Well-Known Member

Makes no mention of deaths due to covid19. Just mentions covid19 "patients". The nhs blanket covid19 death approach regardless of what the patient actually was admitted for or died from is not providing statistics that can be acted on or relied on.
The article seems to be inferring that diabetes is effected by covid19 more so than other conditions.

I read it only, that a quarter of people that have died were diabetic (testing positive for covid19) at time of death.

Well-Known Member

Follow up statement from Bridget Turner, director of policy at Diabetes UK
"We [...] need urgent action from government to understand the detail behind this figure, including diabetes type, age, ethnicity, medical history and comorbidities of those who have sadly died"

I agree we certainly need urgent action from the government, but not so much about diabetes type, age, medical history, but more about whether those patients who died, died from covid19 or not. Not just had a positive test, whilst they were admitted for some other emergency or planned procedure.

Active Member

Slightly concerning that "NHS England said the accuracy of the data was reliant on the availability and transfer of information by healthcare providers", i.e. they do not have easy access to information from hospitals.

Well-Known Member

I'm confused as to why anyone is surprised at this information given that the WHO stated in March that going by the information they'd received from China and the other countries at the time with high incidence of Covid, those with high blood pressure and those with diabetes were the most likely to die from Covid if they contracted it and so people with those conditions should be particularly careful to avoid contracting the disease.

It seems these figures are simply agreeing with the original data.
So not really new information - just it is about British people now instead of foreign people.

Type 2 Diagnosed in January 2019 with HbA1c of 67
Prescribed Metformin 500mg once a day and took it for 3 months.
Also prescribed Beta Blockers - 40mg once a day and 10mg as required
Immediately went on to very low carb high fat diet i.e. keto
2nd HbA1c - 55 - came off Metformin as I wasn't eating enough carbs to justify it.
3rd HbA1c - 42 - came off Beta Blockers - gradually reducing dose
4th HbA1c - 42 and blood pressure high end of normal.

Have been managing just by eating low carb/keto without any meds since November 2019 and had my 4th HbA1c after Christmas so I am quite pleased with how things are going

My Experience of Tackling Diabetes - this is my page on Facebook with my cookery adventures and has recipes and tips and wrinkles about low carb eating and keto - I have used dietary changes to keep my blood sugar levels under excellent control for over a year and been able to come off meds completely.

My Facebook Page with my poetry - poetry but mostly not the flowery obscure stuff. People have been known to compare my stuff with Pam Ayres and I have been known to mutter darkly under my breath when they did so

Member

They really should specify. This has worried me as a type 1 diabetic (good control and hba1c) I don't know if this should increase my anxiety or if it only applies to t2 diabetics or those without good control

Well-Known Member

The newspapers are causing so much anxiety over everything they write. Yes reading into this it doesn’t look good if your diabetic and catch corona virus but you have to remember that being diabetic CAN cause problems with lots of other illnesses not just this one.
A huge amount of the people who have died have been older and type 2 is known to effect older people, yes it also effects younger people but they don’t tend to know they even have diabetes so I wonder how many of the 1/4 didn’t even know they had it so couldn’t control it?
What I’m trying to say is from what I’ve read and been told by my diabetes nurse is if your controlling your condition your in a much better place than someone who isn’t.
I’m not sure I’ve got what I wanted to say across properly but just remember that newspapers are there to sell stories, they don’t care if what they are writing is true or not or how much anxiety they are causing.

Member

I’m in my 70’s and type 1. No other medical conditions and well controlled. I’m very anxious after hearing this on the news. I know I’m more at risk with being older but I keep myself fit and healthy. I’m worried now in case they say we have to be ‘shielded’ . At the moment I just take exercise with my dogs twice a day in a quiet area. Im a carer for my husband who has dementia and just can’t be stuck in the house all day. I hope they look into it further and realise that they can’t just ‘lump’ all diabetics into one bracket. They shouldn’t just throw it out there without looking into it further. We are anxious enough as it is.

Well-Known Member

Just looking at it a different way 1/4 of the 33,000 people that have died had diabetes. There’s been 233,000 cases in the uk out of those who have recovered/ recovering I’m sure there would be diabetics. Newspapers should be ashamed at the worry they are causing

Well-Known Member

It seems likely there's some extra vulnerability especially for someone not well controlled; it seems quite likely that in a crowded hospital people with diabetes might well not get optimal support for their diabetes (with any infection control will get screwed up and this infection seems particularly bad).

It also seems plausible that some people who weren't previously diabetic (at least, who didn't know they were) might get a blood test indicating they are. (I'm guessing HbA1c might well be a test that's thrown in if you're in hospital for this, and surely blood glucose would be.) Just because this infection seems to (sometimes) hit multiple organs in surprising ways.

Well-Known Member

It seems likely there's some extra vulnerability especially for someone not well controlled; it seems quite likely that in a crowded hospital people with diabetes might well not get optimal support for their diabetes (with any infection control will get screwed up and this infection seems particularly bad).

It also seems plausible that some people who weren't previously diabetic (at least, who didn't know they were) might get a blood test indicating they are. (I'm guessing HbA1c might well be a test that's thrown in if you're in hospital for this, and surely blood glucose would be.) Just because this infection seems to (sometimes) hit multiple organs in surprising ways.

Hi Bruce,
I'm asking because a close friend of mine lost an uncle very recently. Her uncle had been self isolating since lockdown at home on his own, he's type 1, having problems with diabetes, went into hospital, was tested negative for covid19 when he went in, was discharged 2 days later and then died at home from covid19 4 days later. He had been put onto a covid19 ward even though he tested negative! Awful! Family are in disbelief and grieving at same time.

Member

I'm sorry, but what are Diabetes UK doing to deal with / validate this statistic?
I expected a questionnaire in the early phase of this epidemic asking how every Diabetes sufferer was dealing with the lock down, because without knowing whether people are self isolating in spite of government/ Diabetes UK recommendation, or carrying on, following government advice, the information would be valuable.
To give my example, my son (Type 1) is a critical worker but was lucky enough to have an understanding employer who said he could have unpaid leave for as long as he wanted, so has self isolated for the last 8 weeks (as has the whole household to protect him). Had he not done that the 25% hospital death rate may have been influenced minutely. How many other people are doing the same?
Diabetes UK may be putting pressure (apparently) on getting things sorted, but I have no faith they are ahead of the curve (which I expected they would be) so I am cancelling my monthly donation from today